


Lovin' Every Minute of It

by Pfain Ryder (Cat_Moon)



Series: Angelfire Universe [20]
Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 13:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19768822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Pfain%20Ryder
Summary: Peter's with his mother, and no one is taking it well.





	Lovin' Every Minute of It

**Author's Note:**

> Some more time has passed here, as Peter's just a bit older. Written in 1992, published in Quantum Fire #4.

I finished packing Peter's suitcase and placed it by the door, trying not to let a blue funk settle over me. At least not until after he was gone, for his sake. I had to be the strong one. Truth was, I didn't know what I was going to do without him around the house...

Donna was due any minute. She'd flown in from Oregon to pick him up and take him back with her. The only custody claim she'd asked for was two weeks every year, during the summer.

That time was at hand.

It was the first time we'd been separated since he came into my life, and neither of us was taking it well. I'd prepared him in advance, but it didn't seem to help. He insisted he didn't want to go. It wasn't that I begrudged Donna the time with her son. If Peter had wanted to leave, I would have been happy.

"Daddy..." his little voice called as he wandered in from the bathroom. "Can I call you every night?"

I lifted him into my arms. "You'd better." The doorbell ran and I carried him into the living room with me, to let Donna in.

"Hello Al," she greeted, shaking my hand. "Hi, Peter!" she beamed.

I nudged his leg. "Hi...Mommy." He fell silent, staring at his feet.

"We'll go and get the last of his things. Be right back." We went back into the bedroom, and I picked up his Spaghetti-O.

He clutched the stuffed pasta to him, tears beginning to leak out of the corners of his eyes. "I don't want to go, Daddy..." He wrapped his arms around my neck.

Seeing his tears had me fighting some of my own. I didn't want him to see I was upset. I never liked turning my son down when he felt strongly about something. "I know, but she's your Mommy."

"I want to stay with you!" His lower lip stuck out in a pout.

"It won't be so bad. It'll be fun, you'll see." I tried to sound cheerful.

Peter looked me in the eye, man to man... well, child to man. "I have to, don't I?"

He sounded so much like Sam did in a leap, when there was something unpleasant he had to face; resigned and sad. I nodded. "Yes. But it won't be for long. And it might be fun, you should never give up on something unless you've tried it. There's a lot of new things to see and do out there."

"But I want to do them with you..."

I hugged him tighter. "Will you try to have fun, for me?"

He heaved a huge, adult-like breath. "Okay, Daddy. For you."

"That's my boy." I kissed him.

"Will you give Daddy Sam a kiss for me, too?"

"It will be my pleasure," I assured him.

"And tell him I didn't forget my Spaghetti-O?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

We went back out. "All set," I told Donna. I hugged Peter tightly. "Be a good boy, or--"

"You'll kick my butt!"

"You got it." I kissed him again. "I love you, Sunshine." I handed him over to Donna.

She took him into her arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go, then. Take care, Al."

"You, too. have fun."

"Bye Daddy..." The last thing I heard as the door shut was that mournfully sad little voice.

And they were gone.

XXX

I was reading in bed when Al appeared, lounging next to me. "Hi, Sam."

"Hi." He didn't say anything more, and I studied him a minute. There was a melancholy air about him. Something was up. I put aside my book, giving him my full attention. "Al, what's wrong?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, really. Good book?" he gestured towards the discarded paperback.

"I've got a better mystery right here. Are you going to tell me what's bothering you, or do I have to pry it out of you?"

"Put away your crow bar. It's just...Peter's away for two weeks."

"Away where?" I asked, puzzled. Especially since Peter was rarely out of Al's sight for more than two hours.

"With Donna. The agreement she has is for two weeks with him every year."

"Only two weeks? That doesn't sound bad."

"Yeah, but...he didn't want to go."

I nodded. "Understandable, it's going to take some adjustment...on both your parts."

"He said he wanted to stay with me. You should've seen that little pouty lip, those eyes..."

'It's only for two weeks," I reminded him, amused.

"I know I'm too over-protective, I spoil him too much, but..."

"He's really got you wrapped around his little finger," I noted with a big grin.

"I know I should be tougher," Al agreed. "But it's kinda hard when you got that tiny voice saying, 'I don't wanna go'."

Upon closer inspection, I saw tears in Al's eyes. I smiled warmly. Those two were really crazy about each other. Not that I was Mr. sensible--after all, I was the one who made a giant stuffed Spaghetti-O and sent it to my Dad's lawyer to be delivered to Peter. I'd miss him too, but I was due to leap out soon, and chances were he'd be back before the next leap was through.

"How can I deny him anything?" Al asked. "He deserves whatever makes him happy."

"He _is_ happy," I said firmly. "He'll be okay...better than you will, by the looks of things."

"I know that. I'm gonna be going out of my mind for the next two weeks."

"Y'know something?"

"What?"

"You make a pretty terrific father. In fact, is there anything you aren't terrific at?"

"I doubt it," Al told me, some of the amusement returning to his face. "Oh, he said to give you a big kiss and tell you he's got his Spaghetti-O."

Oops...now it was my turn to get misty-eyed.

Al rubbed at his eyes. "He's something else. He's so damned smart, still, he's only a baby yet."

I smiled softly, then sobered and pinned him with a serious gaze. "Al, we're disgusting."

"Totally," Al agreed.

"He's gonna be spoiled rotten, the way we behave."

"We really ought to watch that," Al said.

"Say hi for me when you talk to him, tell him I love him."

"Sure."

"And don't forget to tell me everything he says during the calls."

"Every word."

"Al?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"I think we're in trouble--big time."

"And lovin' every minute of it, daddy."

**THE END**

2/25/92


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